Policy 2708: Managing University Records

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Subject Area: Miscellaneous
Responsible Office: The Office of Legal Counsel
Sponsor: Vice President and General Counsel
Originally Issued: June 2009
Revised: N/A
Refer Questions To: The Office of Legal Counsel

Purpose: This policy sets forth a general framework for meeting the University’s obligations to review, retain, and destroy University records consistent with laws, regulations, and internal University recordkeeping objectives that may change from time to time. This policy is intended to supplement rather than supersede the current document retention and destruction policies of any academic or administrative department of the University. Please contact the Office of Legal Counsel if any such existing policies conflict with the guidance in this policy.

Applicability: This policy applies to all academic and administrative departments of the University and all University employees having a responsibility to maintain or destroy University records.

Scope: This policy applies to all University records, which means any documents generated, received, or maintained in connection with any operations of the University. Typically, personal documents (including e-mails) of non-employees subject to the University’s Eligibility and Acceptable Use Policy are not considered to be University records. For guidance on electronic discovery, see Policy 2709, Electronic University Records Relevant to Pending or Anticipated Litigation.

Policy

This policy sets forth general categories of University records and provides general retention guidelines for each category. Notwithstanding these general guidelines, each academic and administrative department is responsible for: (i) identifying all laws and regulations that apply to its own recordkeeping; (ii) notifying the Office of Legal Counsel of all such laws and regulations and recommending revisions or additions to these requirements as appropriate; (iii) monitoring its own compliance; (iv) destroying documents in an appropriately secure and effective manner; and (v) documenting compliance with this policy, particularly with respect to the storage and destruction of University records.

Revisions or additions to the following requirements will be made by the Office of Legal Counsel in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and the Assistant Vice President of the Office of Risk Management and Safety.

Except in unusual situations approved by the Office of Legal Counsel in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and the Assistant Vice President of the Office of Risk Management and Safety, the costs of reviewing, retaining, and destroying University records pursuant to this Policy will be borne by the academic or administrative department that maintains the records at issue.

Employees who knowingly fail to comply with this Policy or any other departmental document retention and destruction policy may be subject to discipline.

Academic Program Records

Accreditation and licensing

Permanent

Catalogs and course descriptions

Permanent

Dissertations and terminal Master’s theses (undergraduate theses included only if prize-winning)